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U.S. Chamber likes budget cutting ideas

WASHINGTON (AP) - There's finally some praise for the deficit-cutting ideas that were put forward by the leaders of President Barack Obama's bipartisan panel.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce says it agrees that "any solution will require commitment and sacrifice on both the spending and revenue fronts." But the ideas are coming under fire from elsewhere. The head of the AFL-CIO describes the proposals as a "drop dead" message to working Americans. And anti-tax activist Grover Norquist is criticizing the $1 trillion in tax increases over the coming decades.

Some popular tax breaks -- including the child tax credit and the mortgage interest deduction -- would be eliminated. The proposal would raise the regular Social Security retirement age to 68 by about 2050, and to 69 in 2075. Currently, the full retirement age is 66.

The chairmen of the panel concede that the plan is so controversial, it's dead on arrival. But they said putting it forward would bring a more realistic debate about what it will take to solve the nation's fiscal troubles.